


When Home Finds You

by CyborgWrites



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Erik's mother kinda oc, N'Jobu and Erik are too alike but also so different, T'Challa rights another wrong, linda - Freeform, the girlfriend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-02-27
Packaged: 2019-03-24 10:48:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13809600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyborgWrites/pseuds/CyborgWrites
Summary: Erik jerked, hearing the door open, N'Jobu putting himself between the newcomer and his son.There was no way there could be another... unless...The figure entered, looking completely unchanged from the last time Erik had seen him.T'Challa."Sorry to keep you waiting"





	When Home Finds You

Erik heard the rustling of his fathers clothes in his movements, the older man having moved from their ratty sofa to the window, staring at the blues and purples and pinks of the ancestral plane. Erik couldn't say how long it had been since he joined his father there. Did time work differently here?

"Pops..."

No reply.

"Dad?"

Erik sighed.

"Baba!"

That seemed to snap N'Jobu out of it.

"Yes, my son?"

Erik went to him, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Tell me a story."

N'Jobu smiled.

"Which one?"

Erik thought for a second. He wanted the story he hadn't heard.... the beginning of his own story.

"Tell me how you met mom."

N'Jobu's smile widened.

"That is my favorite one! I am almost sad you did not ask me sooner. But nevermind that. I'll take joy in telling it to you for the first time."

N'Jobu took him by the hand and Erik let his father lead him back to the sofa.

Erik watched him plop down cross-legged onto the sofa, his smile brighter than Erik had ever seen and Erik couldn't help but smile back.

"Sit!" N'Jobu urged, patting the spot next to him. 

Erik sat down, making himself comfortable and waiting patiently. He observed his father, who's eyes looked faraway and shone with a love almost impossibly deeper than when he spoke of Wakandan sunsets.

"I had been in America for two months," N'Jobu whispered to him. "It was a very lonely time. I came alone and I knew no one and the culture was so different from Wakanda's... and primitive to me at first..."

N'Jobu paused, smile wavering.

"Then I made my first friend."

"Who?"

N'Jobu sighed.

"James."

Erik leaned back, nodding in understanding.

"Zuri."

N'Jobu hummed, nodding.

"Ja- Zuri took me to a small restaurant around the corner. I had never been there. I didn't get out much and usually bought groceries to make food. Anyway, he took me there. 'They have good pizza. You'll like this place' he promised. We walked in and went to the counter and there she was. Your mother. Wearing an apron and covered in flour..."

______________________________________

Jada had been having a long day. Her back ached, her feet hurt and she couldn't get the smell of mozzerella out of her nostrils.

She sighed, wiping sweat off her forehead with her forearm and grateful that her braids were tied up and out of her face.

She sighed when she heard the chiming of the bell signalling the arrival of another customer but turned around with a smile on her face all the same.

"Hi, welcome to Antonino's. I'm Jada. How can I... help you... " she trailed off, taking in the new comer. 

She had never seen him before. But man he was fine. And the way he stood, tall and proud. He seemed different...

She shook her head, pulling herself together.

"I can take your order when you're ready."

N'Jobu was not ready. Nothing could have prepared him for Jada. He took in her smooth skin, large hoop earings, and intricate braids, her red nails tapping nervously on the counter. He could not help it.

He froze.

"I...."

"Really man?" He heard 'James' whisper and watched his friend shake his head at him before speaking up.

"We'll have a pepperoni pizza."

N'Jobu jerked, being urged toward a table by 'James'.

 He kept sneaking glances at her and smiling when he caught her doing the same.

His companion sighed.

"Bro, just ask her out!"

"But-"

"She obviously feeling you so just go talk to her."

N'Jobu nodded. "Okay, I'll do it."

He stood, walking over to the counter, reassuring himself mentally.

"You are a prince," he whispered to himself.

Jada seemed to feel him coming. She turned.

"Your pizza is almost done," she said.

"Oh I don't mind the wait. I just came to talk to you. I didn't get to introduce myself."

She smiled. "Okay..."

He realized she was waiting for him and he hadn't given her a name.

"N.J."

She laughed and he found he never wanted her to stop. "What's that short for?"

"I'll tell you another time," he promised, " if you let me take you out sometime."

She grinned, taking a piece if paper out of her notepad and scribbling something down. She handed it to him. He noticed there was a phone number on it.

"Call me after your pizza. I get off at 6."

He smiled, and Jada felt something shift. Nobody had ever smiled at her like that before.

"I'll do that," he said, walking back over to his friend.

'James' smirked. "She gave you her digits?"

N'Jobu nodded, earning a clap on the shoulder in congratulations.

_________________________________________

Erik laughed.

"Ma worked at a pizza place? I can't picture it."

N'Jobu shrugged. "We were certainly never hungry our first year together. This was before she began working at the hair salon four blocks down."

Now Erik was cackling.

"So you went out?"

"Yes. I took her to the chinese place down the street. We ended up making eachother laugh so hard they kicked us out."

Erik sobered quickly at that.

"Oh man..."

N'Jobu shrugged.

"At the time neither of us cared. We were so wrapped up in eachother that nothing could spoil it for us. The reality of where we lived would be realized soon but I was in love. And at the time I still knew I had a country to go back to."

Erik hummed, thoughtfully silent.

"Anyway, over the years, James and I grew closer, your mother became pregnant with you and I had been trusted by certain movements to spearhead operations in our community. When you were born... it was one of the best days of my life. Your mother and I loved you so... and by then I had told her the truth of who I was. I had promised to take her to Wakanda..."

"What happened to her? I don't remember much of her past four years old."

N'Jobu nodded, his expression grim.

Erik's stomach sank at the abrupt change in demeanor.

Was it that bad?

"Because of my dealings, your mother became a prime target for blackmail and leverage. But she was never afraid. Even helping me when she could. We were transporting weapons to a warehouse. Your mother was in a different car... we'd been ambushed and I used Kimoyo beads to blow up the cars with our then unknown enemies."

N'Jobu took a shuddering breath.

"By the time the shooting stopped, it was too late. The bullets shattered the car window and your mother was shot in the chest. Gone before I could get to her. Coming home to you without her was the hardest thing I have ever had to do in my life."

Erik swallowed, his eyes burning.

"Who was it? Who attacked-"

N'Jobu held his hand up.

"I did this to her. To us.."

Eril stood abruptly.

"What?!"

"If I hadn't let her come along, she would be alive and you would not have been so alone."

"No," Erik hissed, shaking his head in absolute refusal, "that's not your fault. That's..."

His breath hitched as he thought of Linda, of the choice of joining him and how it meant making a hundred other choices that could and did get her killed. By him...

The tears fell, and his father's hand settled over his back, rubbing smooth circles.

"I'm sorry, N'Jadaka. I'm sorry for all the pain you've experienced. I never meant for you to continuously pay for my mistakes. Or for you to be alone"

Erik shook his head.

He hadn't been alone. For a while he hadn't and then...

"No, I-"

_Click!_

Erik jerked, hearing the door open, N'Jobu putting himself between the newcomer and his son.

  
There was no way there could be another... unless...

  
The figure entered, looking completely unchanged from the last time Erik had seen him and leaving his father looking like he'd seen a ghost, because of course he looked just like his father.

T'Challa.

The Black Panther entered with a soft, uncertain smile on his face.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," he said.

N'Jobu frowned.

"Who are you?"

Erik locked eyes with T'Challa, looking very much like a deer in headlights. In that moment, T'Challa understood. Erik hadn't told N'Jobu what happened.

"I am King T'Challa. You haven't seen me in a long time, uncle."

N'Jobu's eyes widened.

"T'Chaka's son... what are you doing here?"

"Righting one of many wrongs," T'Challa said. "We were wrong to turn our back on the world and on Erik. There is no reason you should be abandoned here now."

He extended his hands offering one to each of them.

He smiled warmly, and it sent a pang of longing through N'Jobu's heart for a better time long, long ago.

Could this really be?

T'Challa waited, his hands hovering.

"Take my hand and I will take you home."

N'Jobu shared a look with his son and they seemed to come to a conclusion

T'Challa's smile brightened when he felt their fingers lock with his.

The world shifted around them in vivid color as they were travelling at breakneck speed for what felt like forever and also no time at all at the same time until finally it stopped at a tree surrounded by a field of tall grass. The sun glowed gold in the distance.

N'Jobu fell to his knees, taking in the sight. He still had his son and his nephew's hands in his. He squeezed them, certain this was all a dream.

"My son, we are home."

Erik looked behind them, a crowd of ancestors appearing to greet them and from them emerged a woman dressed in blue.

She approached Erik, caressing his face with soft hands.

"Baby boy."

N'Jobu froze when he heard her voice.

"Jada?"

He turned, laying eyes on her for the first time in years.

She smiled.

"I've been waiting for you," she said.

T'Challa observed the scene, an aura of peace settling ovet him as he took his leave.

He had to get back to the living. 

Besides, his cousin and uncle would be alright now.

They were home.

And neither of them would ever be alone again.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> What did y'all think?


End file.
